The interior of commercial passenger aircraft are formed by a number of generally curved vertical panels which extend between the floor and stowage bin of the aircraft in a side-to-side manner along the left and right sides of the aircraft. Behind these panels is located insulation which reduces the noise and vibration transmitted from the aircraft engines to the interior of the cabin. The noise and vibration are further reduced by mounting the panels against rubber shock absorbers which are also known as "shock mounts", and which are affixed to the frame of the aircraft. It is important however, that the cabin panels be held securely against the shock mounts so that any vibration of the aircraft frame does not cause these panels to vibrate against the frame and shock mounts.
In addition to the aforementioned habitability factors of reduced noise and vibration, it is desirable that the panels and insulation be installed and removed easily and rapidly. This is true not only during the initial construction of the aircraft, but also later on when maintenance is being performed. Behind the panels there are typically located a number of air conditioning ducts as well as electrical wiring for the cabin lighting. These ducts and wiring are accessed by removing the cabin panels.
In many conventional passenger aircraft the cabin panels have tabs which extend outwardly from the vertical edges of the panels. The panels are secured by horizontal bridge fasteners which are inserted over the tabs of adjacent cabin panels and which are connected to the aircraft frame via the shock mounts by screw fasteners. A decorative vertical trim strip is inserted between the edges of the adJacent panels and over the tabs to provide a pleasing appearance to the cabin.
Behind the panels are located the shock mounts which are riveted to the frame. The shock mounts include threaded receptacles for securing the bridge fasteners to the aircraft. The insulation is installed behind the cabin panels, and is secured to the vertical ribs of the aircraft frame.
Since conventionally the shock mounts are prelocated by being riveted to the aircraft ribs prior to attaching the panels or insulation, it is sometimes difficult to properly secure the panels to the aircraft. This is because either the tabs of the adjacent panels do not properly align with each other to permit simultaneous engagement by the bridge fasteners, or because the tabs do not align with the position of the bridge fastener; the position of the bridge fastener being fixed by the location of the mounting holes in the prelocated shock mount. Furthermore, the lengthwise gap between the edges of the adjacent panels may be too small to accomodate a vertical trim strip, or the projecting screw fasteners may prevent the trim strip from being easily inserted in the gap.
Other apparatus have been disclosed for both mounting wall panels and insulation to an underlying surface. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,925,050 by Candlin, Jr. et al, there is disclosed a railway car having interior panels which are removably mounted to the frame of the car by means of resilient connectors.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,238,686 by Pomeroy, removable panels for the interior of an elevator are disclosed and which include slotted portions which fit over the head of a bolt which in turn is fixedly mounted to the elevator frame.
Various fasteners have also been disclosed for attaching members to a frame. Swain, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,303,624 discloses a rotatable fastener which is connected to a removable ceiling tile and which when rotated engages or disengages another tile mounted adjacent to the removable tile. In addition, a fastener for securing a metal frame such as for windows, to a wooden frame utilizing two levers having oppositely facing hooks which respectively engage ribs of the wooden frame is disclosed by Schmidlin in U.S. Pat. No. 3,460,306. Another fastener assembly for attaching wall panels to spaced stud members is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,163 by Satkin et al in which the panels have hooked members which are inserted within slots of the studs.
A fastener assembly for fastening panels to the interior of an aircraft cabin is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,208 by Pompei et al, which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and in which an interior wall and ceiling panel for an airplane includes a fastener bracket which attaches the panels to the airplane frame and permits the positions of the panels to be adjusted relative to the frame.
Other fastener assemblies include U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,244 by Sjolander which discloses a building cover panel having an outer longitudinal marginal portion which is resiliently snapped into a corresponding receptacle portion of an underlying support rail. Another fastener assembly for attaching a rigid soundproofing panel to an aircraft is disclosed by Olsen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,442,647 in which elastomeric material is used as a fastening means to reduce the transmission of vibrations between the aircraft frame and the panel. Furthermore, removable overlapping closure panels for a livestock trailer in which the panels are attached to the trailer frame by spring biased latch members which engage the panels inwardly toward the frame are disclosed by Lewis in U.S. Pat. No. 4,470,231.
Various apparatus for fastening insulation material to an underlying wall has also been disclosed. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,256,961 by Pearson et al, a fastener for insulation material of a refrigerator car is disclosed which includes a barbed spear over which the insulation is inserted and a cover for the spear which holds the insulation to the spear. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,263,919 by Darragh, Jr., a fastener is disclosed for attaching an inner shell of an aircraft to an outer shell, and which includes a rubber grommet which is located between the shells and a mounting bolt which passes through the grommet to connect the shells together.
In Rosenburg, U.S. Pat. No. 3,238,835, an acoustic insulation fastener for securing insulating materials to the inside of a ship's hull includes an elongated fastener having a projecting shank and a removable support pin attached to the shank over which the insulation is placed to secure the insulation to the shank of the fastener.
Various fasteners have been disclosed for attaching refractory linings to furnace walls. These include U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,217 by Walker, in which an elongated fastener is welded to the furnace wall at one end, the opposite end having a notched configuration for receiving a complementary shaped retaining clip for securing the lining to the wall. Other patents in which similar fasteners for fastening refractory material to furnace walls includes U.S. Pat. No. 4,018,023 by Anderson; U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,261 by Coleman; U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,001 by Pickles; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,370,840 by Bisbee et al.
Other insulation fasteners include U.S. Pat. No. 3,945,158 by Simpson in which there is disclosed a fastener assembly for clamping the edge of roof insulation material to an eave strut of a metal building, the fastener including a retaining element having a Z cross-sectional configuration for securing the insulation to the roof structure and a second flexible metal strip for holding the Z-shaped retaining element in place. Furthermore, Dunlap, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,023, discloses an insulation assembly for the interior of a furnace including an outer housing which encloses the insulation and a T-shaped stud which is secured to the furnace wall at one end and has a pointed opposite end over which the insulation is inserted.